North London Derby: Red Or White?

    Remember remember the 5^th of November, Guy Fawkes day is upon them in Britain, and when we look at the recent polls, Americans still cant decide if she is bad while he is worse or the other way round. I’d rather the US elections, Brexit and all the hum dum of political jargon be gotten over with so we can watch something more meaningful on CNN. Anyway V for vendetta was that movie, twisted, cynical  and it rabid dialogue was nothing short of brilliant. How Guy Fawkes goes from villain to a hero is beyond comprehension but hey this world is full of mysteries aint it…..thats ma opinion though.

Guy Fawkes Mask: V for Vandetta

     Back to Arsenal as this is what we do here, please pardon the digression. It’s the north London derby (NLD) at the emirates on Sunday and our first on this blog ……yippee. Arsenal face the first test of their mettle against Tottenham as they begin the fabled “crunch November” in the league. A lot of history in this one since 1992 when both teams met for the 1^st time in the EPL.  From cross carpeting players like Sol Campbel to managers like George Graham and Herbert Chapman (same Chapman with a statue), it really is a stuff of legends.

Arsenals 66 Wins to Spurs 50Wins, Spurs have never finished above the gunners in the league since Arsene came to town. Last season coulda been that season though, after pushing leiceter most of the way it looked like they would get 2^nd place above Arsenal (which they deserved if u ask me) but like the famous Lasgne of 2006, Tottenham bottled it yet again. We aren’t at that point of reckoning yet, just about a third of the league games played. Of the two sides, Arsenal are the form team even though they seemed to be getting themselves into tricky situations and then going on to get themselves out of it, just for the heck of it. One would thing a better team would punish the gunners more with their penchant for school boy defending in recent games. Spurs on the other hand though unbeaten in the league so far, here’s hoping we change that. They seem to have lost some mojo in their last few matches with just one win in four games compared to Arsenal's 3 wins in four. Yes the form guide points to an Arsenal win and I hope for that too….but derby is a derby and this happens to be one of the fiercest rivalries in football where no one wants to end up on the losing side. Form they say goes out the window when it comes to this and the day belongs to the team that shows to want it more. Can Arsenal do that to kill Tottenham’s high pressing game? BIG question that needs our BIG GUNZ to show up BIG time. Can we do that?  Sanchez seems to think so, saying this derby will have everything as he understands what the result  of this particular means to the team and the supporters in terms of morale and bragging rights.

“The Arsenal fans are amazing supporters and that really helps me to perform well, and  we want to give them something to celebrate” speaking to Arsenal.com

    I don’t think anyone can question our energizer bunny’s work ethic. The good thing is his attitude has rubbed of on the likes of Walcott and recently Oxlade who have spoken glowingly about how he gives that bit of extra. Özil is also reverse chipping in with more goals this season than assists so far and I hope he continues with both. Football is a team game and it would require the whole team to stay compact in defending without the ball and clinical when the chances come. Despite Spurs injury worries, without Anderwereld, Kane though proclaimed fit is not likely to start, spurs still posses a threat in Son(Spurs top scorer) Erikson, a fit Kane they are no slouch couch. Remember Arsenal has not won Spurs in the last four league meetings. The midfield will be a key battle area, if we win that, we have better finishers who can convert chances to hurt them real bad. Wenger has a few concerns too and a selection headache albeit a good one. Walcott and Monreal are likely to be back in the side after their short layoff while Santi the magician remains the doubt….still the ankle. My own preferred lineup will be to go with pace in attack and a strong midfield to stifle Dembele and Wanyama. Something like the usual back four with Cech, Nacho and Bellz returning, powerful midfield trio of Coq Xhaka and Ramsey in front of them then a front three of Wally Iwobi and Sanchez. …..yes I am leaving Özil on the bench with Giroud, keep them hungry for the second half. Having said that, I believe Wenger  who knows, will go with the team below depending on injuries(those in bold are almost a guarantee );

Sub: Ospina, Elneny, Jenkinson, Giroud, Ramsey Xhaka, Oxlade.

Predicted Lineups courtesy ; The Uk Guardian.

Whatever the team that's put out, here is hoping the players fight for everything like Sanchez said and get that win for the fans to celebrate. Till tomorrow, do enjoy the match wherever you may be.....Cioa

The Wizard Of Özil Seals The Comeback In Sofia

  Wow…..a comeback is always nice especially away from home but that wasn’t easy. Its not every time that we have said that this season since Arsenal Made a flying comeback post their first match loss. Arsenal played a different Ludogoret side from the one that visited the emirates two weeks ago. Off the block Arsenal tried to impose themselves in the midfield that had Ramsey starting for the first time since returning from injury on the wings where arsene admitted “he doesn’t like to play”. Ramsey was the first to test the opposition waters as early as the 5^th minute , then in the 8^th minute Özil was played through on goal by a delightful slide on pass from Coquelin. Özil took the pass well o the run but aas usual his final shot was a weak placement that  Borjan their keeper was able to save with ease. That seemed to have jolted the hosts out of their shell as they took Arsenal apart with two well taken goals within the space of five minutes. The first came from a nice free kick after Xhaka was harshly penalized for a soft handball outside the gunners penalty box. Wanderson floated in an in swinger, the Arsenal defence dallied on the incoming and the ball was bundled home by Cafu despite Jenkinson’s best efforts at a desperate clearance.

1-0 against the Gunners!

  I know Jenkinson is just back from injury but he was a weak link in the arsenal backline making life a bit more difficult for Mustafi. Going forward he lack the incision of bellerin and his defending really needs to be less clumsy especially his positioning. He gets a bit of slack cuz he is only back from a long injury lay off but he is has to up his game to catch up with Bellerin. Our collective defending was brought to the fore again few minutes after the goal via a fast break with the ball played out wide by Wanderson to the left for Cafu. Cafu  did some nice footwork to land Gibbs on his backside before playing the ball into space for Keseru to convert. 

2-0 against the gunners!

Painful to see us defending this way, . I just did a bigups on Gibbs and he fails me like this….. that was it though for the home side. Arsenal needed to respond and they picked themselves from falling behind. Özil did well to scoop the ball of the line for Granit Xhaka to steer beyond the grasping dive of Borjan in Ludogorets goal on the dot of 20 minutes.

2-1 against the gunners! Still some ground to make up.

Just like arsenal conceded in quick succession, Ludogorets were going to almost oblige Arsenal the same. Arsenal won the ball in their half got it to Ramsey out wide on the right flank. Ramsey on the edge of the box floated one into the box. Giroud came forward to glance the header beyond the keeper for the glorious equalizer…..pheeeeww. The game played out till the end of the first half.

2-2 All Square at halftime.

   The second half was more grit than grace from both teams as they tried to eke out that final killer ball to finish off the other Team. Not like Arsenal were so dominant cuz Ospina had to get of his line twice to smother a potential threat from Wanderson. Ludogoret still gave us some nervy causes for concern. Oxlade came on for Ramsey just over seventy minutes before two more substitutions bought El Neny and Iwobi. As the match was dying into a stalemate, Ludogorets were taught a hard lesson at this stage. Arsenal broke away on the counter and Özil was able to spring the offside trap from way out.

2-3 to the Gunners! Come back almost done…...

   The whole goal, lets just say we were treated us to a Messi-esque goal, chipping the keeper first before dummying two defenders on the floor twice then slotting home with aplomb. Please watch the goal here …….in case you missed it. Özil has his critics but this was a thing of beauty that Dennis Bergekamp would be very proud. He got an assist and a goal, 7 goals now, i hope he is able to hit double figures in both this year.

   Game over and we see it wasn’t a routine win as some may have thought, Ludogorets are the Bulgarian champions so why would one expect that. It was a game that could have gone totally south with a bad loss, but the team turned it around which was very good. 10 points just like PSG who had a late winner at Basel but still top of group A. The November month of key games has started on good note. Lets hope the winning momentum is maintained in the league as well. From the whole Team, that’s it from us……..CIao

Sunderland Treat, Almost Tricky!

    Happy Halloween wherever U are especially for Man U fans. Yeah I know I keep saying this isn’t a Man Utd blog but one has to start asking questions about what is going on over there in the Red Manchester. Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and even Arsenal whom we all kinda wrote off after the first game which they lost, are all in the mix of “Contenders”. Well Mourinho led Man United sit in 8^th place (not bad) but 8^th points off the top with a +1 goal difference after 10 games can you beat that? Even Moyes and Van Gaal did much better at this stage when the bean couters came to take stock. Mourinho is throwng his usual antics, after being sent to the stands on Saturday, he has come out to blame every one but himself ,….as usual. I never liked him but he had done enough to earn ma respect and I am sure so many other people too but he is gradually losing it all. Why Henri Mikitharian isn’t able to get game time after such a high profile move is beyond me. Dortmund and Bundesliga player of the year last season or is Dortmund to Man U moves Jinxed? Kagawa …anyone?

Back to Arsenal on the quickie, 10 EPL games played 7W 2D 1 L, so Are we title contenders?? Not yet. I would love to be postive and i am being positive but not only is it early days yet, i do say so because we have a bit of a complacency about our play however good we are. We can take out most if not all teams if we stay focused and hungry,  but we seem to lack that killer instinct, that has always being our bane. From the last match against the Mack'ems here are 5 things we learnt, at least i did:

Gibbs Makes a Claim at a comeback.

Two wins in the EFL cup run as captain merged with an assured performance in his first start in league in which he got an assist for that crucial second goal against Sunderland tells a lot about his progress recently. His defending is looking improved and he is gradually working his way back into contention for a stating berth. Remember he also got a call up for the England squad earlier this month even though he did not play. Monreal we all know has been consistent up until this season where Iwobi has kind of left him exposed in games but if Gibbs continues his upward trajectory in improvement injuries allowing, he just might usurp our Mr Consistent who is not getting any younger.

Arsenal Like to do it the Hard way.

     I don’t know how many times immaa say this but I say it again, we seem to dislike the easy route. We got into the bossed it from midfield got ahead from a sweet stealing header by Sanchez after 22 swift passes… yeah death by a thousand passes, very beatiful. Then what? Kill of the game, naaah instead we took our foot of the pedal. Playing with Sunderland like it was a training session. We ought to have been at least two goals up if Ozil had been more clinical or if Iwobi hadn’t over run the ball after rounding the keeper. We played with style and lots of possession but no end product. 1-0 up is never a safe scoreline in games, we all know that so it was no surprise we conceded a soft penalty from which they equalized. Typical Arsenal, not this time though, the gunners they cranked up the gears with super sub Giroud doing in  an ‘8 Minute of Blitz’ what they ought to have done in 70 minutes. Arsenal seem to like it the hardway….not so good!

   

Sanchez shows the way but…

     Another man of the match performance but i still don’t agree with him up top. he sure is making a case for that to continue though as his goals are proving Wenger’s belief in that being the way to go. Well you can’t fault that, he is an energizer bunny full of running and always trying to make something happen. The way he out foxed Kone for Arsenals 1^st goal was just amazing. He left the Kone still expecting to head a ball that was already in the net. So what’s the “but”?  For all of Sanchez’s good to Arsenal his penchant for falling down every single time he is pulled or pushed or tugged will see him lose 50-50 calls for penalties like it happened in the match, also he needs to cut out his trying to influence the referee into giving a yellow card against the opposition. Come on bro, it makes you look like a whining pantsy and that’s very unsporting if you ask me. Great work ethic from a star player, he just needs to cut out those kinks.

Arsenal show they have Quality in Depth

     1-1, game all square, Giroud comes off the bench and scores 2 good goals with his first two touches easing off the pressure on the team while sending the gunners to the summit of the table albeit briefly. That’s a rarity in past seasons. We usually have a starting 11 that’s solid with Giroud leading the line with no extra goods in the tank, but not this season. In Defence Midfield and Attack, this gunners boast of better replacements than before which can only be   good for the Team. Elneny has held forth well even though Ramsey is back an Xhaka has served his last match ban so Arsene has some decisions to make. We have so far coped without Welbeck, Giroud, Ramsey and Perez although it must be said that we don’t have an adequate replacement for Santi who has picked up a knock…still there is an improvement in the squad depth quality wise.....now that is good!

November can be defining Month.

     On paper, Arsenal have two tough league games in November, away at them Tiny Tots who are thus far unbeaten (Wont it be nice to hand them thei first defeat of the season) but have stuttered with two consecutive draws draws and then at home to Man Utd, sandwiched in between will be . Now Man United isn’t the worry but the Mourinho factor may still be. Arsene still owes him a beating in the league. The BIG question is can they beat these two teams now?? 6 points would be a dream come true, 4 points from those two games will be good a 2 points will be bad and anything less would be really terrible. If you add Ludogorets and PSG in the UCL and Southampton in the EFL cup then you get the picture. Not that I have underestimated Bournemouth cuz there are no easy games in the EPL these days.

   All in all, a good day out with 3-points in the bag although no clean sheet. Liverpool is looking a threat now ooo, or is it me? For us, here is hoping we dont have our hitherto terrible November run in the league while successfully being able navigate three tricky cup games both home and away with good results. I believe proper management of his players will be very critical to such success. Finding the right balance will be tricky no doubt but rotation is very key. Anyway thats it from me.......... Ciao